


Ingress

by mayachain



Series: 14Valentines2018 [5]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Character Study, Communication, Community: 14valentines, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Baggage, Established Relationship, F/F, Female Characters, Secrets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 06:30:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13584270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayachain/pseuds/mayachain
Summary: Colette finds that the Kusanagi Guide to Family somewhat superior to her own.





	Ingress

It’s hard for Miko to find a way to write letters to her family that are not full of lies. She thought she’d had practice while she’d still been working at Area 51, and she had, but she’d yet to live in an actual warzone then.

Colette has gone for long stretches of time without talking to her family before. It’s not that they never got along, but it had often just… happened ever since she’d moved to her first tiny little apartment and no longer lived in the same house as her mother, siblings and step-father. She’d been focused on school to the exclusion of all else for long stretches of time, barely making any friends, and… It’s not that she didn’t love them, she just could go for weeks and even months without really thinking about them. 

They were the same, though. They went for just as long without writing, calling, visiting. With the exception of that one time during her senior year she fell ill and spent a rather morose hour wondering if anyone would notice if she died, Colette never thought to begrudge her family their quirks. It was only later, much later, when she fell in love first with Miko’s brain and then Miko herself that she realized she might not exactly have been better for it.

-

She does not know what would have happened had she and Miko lived anywhere else. She cannot see how their relationship ever would have developed, much less lasted. Atlantis is about the size of Manhattan but the area they have cleared for living space is not a large one. Every citizen who is not laid up in Colette’s infirmary goes to the mess hall for a meal at least every other day. Even loners like Colette will be nudged into socializing with at least some other expedition members by sheer proximity.

Living under the constant threat of dying makes all the loners on Atlantis congregate toward the group for comfort and protection. There is only so much time you can spend in your room with terrified crying.

Colette realizes, too, that once they’d become friends _somehow_ , Miko might not have let her shut herself away even if they’d been living on Earth. She certainly didn’t when the Ancients threw them out of the City and into exile on Earth for several months, although – since they rented apartments right next to each other, no hard conclusions can be drawn. Moving in together still felt a little too soon at that point, until they returned to Atlantis and instead of taking back their respective former quarters they found themselves a suite that suited their needs. Colette had met Miko’s family by then, lied to Miko’s family about their work right along with her. The less said about the awkwardness that was Miko meeting Colette’s family, the better…

-

Out of sight, out of mind is the Biro way Colette grew up with. She’s lived her whole adulthood barely thinking about her family and - the evidence suggests - barely being thought about, but Miko doesn’t think like that. Miko’s family doesn’t think like that. Miko’s family lets her go on adventures she may not return from and can never talk about, but her sister, who does not strike Colette as a terribly spiritual person, lights a candle every day for every family member that’s far away from her. It’s something she learned from her mother, and she has taught her son to do the same. Miko doesn’t light candles with any regularity – playing with fire is often not a very good thing - but certainly does so on key occasions and special days.

Colette has fond memories from her childhood – also less fond ones, but the fond ones are the ones worth remembering – and yet she doesn’t have the need to make the effort to turn things around, as Dr. McKay has been doing ever since his sister visited Atlantis that one time. She could write a short missive ‘home’ whenever Miko does, mostly because Miko doing so reminds her that there are people on Earth she _could_ write to… and eventually, she does so once or twice a year.

It hardly results in an influx of communication, but it prompts her family to stop forgetting her birthday. As for the short greetings Colette adds to Miko’s letters to (not so little) Joey… It makes her smile to find a paragraph or two addressed to _herself_ in turn.

 

.


End file.
